


decadent scenes from a memory

by leocantus



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 05:58:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7255279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leocantus/pseuds/leocantus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Have a care, little prince. I dare not think what would become of us if we were to lose you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	decadent scenes from a memory

"It's open."

Corrin eases the door open, cautiously peering through the gap despite the implicit invitation. Their father's erratic behaviour has the castle singing with an unfamiliar tension -- though, with his childhood spent locked away, this could merely be business as usual for them. Still, he and his siblings, for all their spats and teasing, have always stood strong together. He doesn't like the secrets, the underhandedness.

The hushed sense of fear. 

Xander’s expression is as stern as usual, but nonetheless he waves Corrin inside, indicates to the space next to him on the bed. "Come, sit with me for a spell."

Corrin’s mood perks a little at that, and he loses his hesitation as he slips into the room, shutting the door firmly behind himself, and takes a seat beside his brother. 

He supposes, like the rest of his siblings, that being the subject of Xander’s regard, his attention, is something of a privilege, something to covet, to aim for. Xander always makes time for them, but he is also a very busy man. None of them hold it against him – on the contrary, each of them all do their best to lighten his load – but it’s always a moment of joy to know that their brother has taken the time to talk with them.

Current circumstances are not enough to suppress that, and its warmth suffuses through him as he sits at his brother’s side. His brother favours him with a smile, as strained as it is, and Corrin gives one in turn, and then says – pre-emptively, as he is sure he knows now what this conversation is regarding – "I’ll be fine."

There is no outward sign of the change, but Corrin can sense the tension radiating from his brother like heat from a furnace. "You cannot know that. Our father is testing you and these trials seem almost impossible."

"Almost, but not completely." He lays a hand on Xander’s arm, a comfort. "Where this is a way, I will find it. I can’t afford to fail."

Xander’s gaze hasn’t left him since they began speaking, as though he is trying to say what he can’t with words, and Corrin feels his heart constrict in his chest. "Either these trials will kill you or our father will. Where is the way out of that?"

"Try not to worry so much, brother." He injects a confidence in his tone, to convince not only Xander but himself too. "Did you not train me yours—"

Corrin is arrested, words frozen on his tongue as Xander reaches up, long fingers -- calloused and strong but with same care he has always shown Corrin – coming to rest on his jaw, tilting it so that Corrin has no choice but to gaze up at Xander. "Have a care, little prince." His words have a gravity to them, and Corrin listens, transfixed. "I dare not think what would become of us if we were to lose you."

Similar words have been said at one point or another during the course of this ordeal, but the weight of these ones sit heavy on his chest, and Corrin wets his lips before he speaks, sudden nerves leaving his mouth ash dry. There's a flicker of-- of something in Xander’s expression, like a tightening of muscles or a shift of his gaze, that leaves Corrin suddenly breathless, a swoop of sensation in his stomach like the bottom has dropped out, and for one, wild, moment Corrin is sure that Xander is about to lean in, the way he’s seen soldiers and servants alike do so, and seal his mouth over his. 

He nods as well as he can, in as much as to shake the bizarre thought from his mind as it is to respond to his brother. "I-- I will," he says, and his voice wavers briefly before he's able to exert control over it. "I'll return to you. To all of you."

Xander doesn’t smile exactly, but there’s a curl to his lips that suggests triumph, a sense of satisfaction. "See that you do," he says, and there’s a possessiveness now where before it was care in his fingers curved against Corrin’s jaw. It’s all Corrin can do to nod again, Xander’s gaze holding him enthralled, only feeling himself once Xander has released him.

"Send for me when you are ready to depart," he continues, as though their previous interaction is nothing to remark on, "so that I may bid you farewell." Corrin murmurs an affirmative, jerking to his feet at the unsaid dismissal, his confusion robbing him of his usual grace. To his surprise Xander rises with him, and this time there is no ambiguity to his expression as he tugs Corrin into an embrace, arms cinched tight around his shoulders, chin resting atop his head, and Corrin’s eyes flutter shut, hands fisted in the material of his brother’s coat, drawing as much strength as he can from him for the battles yet to come.

They pull back after an age, but only so that Xander can press a lingering kiss to his forehead and stroke thumbs over his cheeks, and there’s that look again, the one that seems to steal the air from his chest, to leave him pinned in place.

"Brother," he begins, though he has no idea how he means to continue.

"Until next time, little prince." The words are shaped with care, and though Corrin has never given much thought to Xander’s name for him, it digs deep now and like a hook pulls him in, Corrin swaying closer with it, until he remembers himself and stops.

"I—Yes. Until then, brother." He turns and heads for the door, feeling strangely bereft, empty of purpose. He shuts the door carefully behind him, and then takes off down the draughty hallways, taking what feels like the first deep breath in a while, to gather supplies. There is the nagging feeling that there's something that he is missing, though for the life of him he can't see what. He’ll speak to Xander once he returns. Perhaps all will make sense then.


End file.
